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The Symbol of the
Unconquered
(1920)

This feature drama, directed by Oscar Micheaux, stars Iris Hall and Walker Thompson, with Lawrence Chenault, Jim Burris, Mattie Wilkes, E.G. Tatum and Leigh Whipper.

Kino Classic
2025 Blu-ray Disc edition

Oscar Micheaux: The Complete Collection (1920-1940), color-tinted black & white, and black & white, 970 minutes total, not rated, including The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920), color-tinted black & white, and black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K26939, UPC 7-38329-26939-5.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc (five BDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 29.8 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 1.6 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 8 chapter stops; 12-page insert booklet; standard five-disc BD keepcase in cardboard slipcase; $89.95.
Release date: 11 February 2025.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been remastered at 4K high-definition from a very-good 35mm preservation print held by The Museum of Modern Art sourced from the only surviving print of the film, with French and Flemish intertitles, held by Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. English intertitles have been translated from the European print, with reference to other historical materials. The source print does have its issues, including frame vibration from either the original camera or from laboratory printing equipment that causes a subtle blurring of some picture details toward the bottom of the frame. Regretfully, the new scan does emphasize this defect in some shots over others but we feel little can be done to mitigate the fault. Other issues include hard-printed dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes and scratches, rough edits, some nascent nitrate decomposition, and other flaws. The color tints present in the European print have been digitally emulated in restrained fashion for this edition to replicate the original viewing experience.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed by Andrew Earle Simpson.

Supplemental material includes theatrical trailers for selected films, including the missing Harlem After Midnight (1934) (3 minutes) and Temptation (1936) (3 minutes); the featurettes “Breaking Ground,” with Rhea L. Combs (9 minutes), “The Silent Years,” with Rhea L. Combs (7 minutes), “The Dawn of Sound,” with Rhea L. Combs (5 minutes), “Staying Relevant,” with Rhea L. Combs (5 minutes), and “More to Come?,” with Rhea L. Combs (1 minute); and a 12-page insert booklet with film notes.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film, for the improved HD scan, the higher video encoding rate and for the new score by Simpson.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Regions ABC Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

Kino Classics
2016 Blu-ray Disc edition

Pioneers of African-American Cinema (1915-1946), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color, 1266 minutes total. not rated, including The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920), black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K20601, UPC 7-38329-20601-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Disc (five BDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 19.6 Mbps average video bit rate; Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at 256 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; 7 chapter stops; 80-page insert book; one cardboard wrap with three plastic BD trays in cardboard slipcase; $99.95.
Release date: 26 July 2016.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 8 / additional content: 8 / overall: 8.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered at 2K high-definition from a very-good 35mm preservation print held by The Museum of Modern Art sourced from the only surviving print of the film, with French and Flemish intertitles, held by Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. New English intertitles have been translated from the European print, with reference to other historical materials. The source print does have its issues, including frame vibration from either the original camera or from laboratory printing equipment that causes a subtle blurring of some picture details toward the bottom of the frame. Other issues include hard-printed dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes and scratches, rough edits, some nascent nitrate decomposition, and other flaws.

The film is accompanied by a percussion score composed and performed by the Jazz great, Max Roach.

Supplemental material includes the documentaries “We Work Again” (1937) produced by the Federal Works Project (15 minutes), and “The Tyler-Texas Black Film Collection: The Missing Link in Black Cinema” (1985), with Ossie Davis (6 minutes); theatrical trailers for Veiled Aristocrats (4 minutes) and Birthright (3 minutes); an interview with historian S. Torriano Berry on the works of James and Eloyce Gist (5 minutes); and the featurettes “Pioneers of African-American Cinema: An Introduction,” with collection curators Jacqueline Najuma Stewart and Charles Musser (8 minutes), “About the Restoration,” with edition producer Bret Wood (8 minutes), “The Color Line,” with Charles Musser (5 minutes), “Ten Nights in a Bar Room: An Introduction,” with Charles Musser (4 minutes), “Eleven P.M.: An Introduction,” with Charles Musser (3 minutes), “The Films of Oscar Micheaux,” with Charles Musser (9 minutes), “The Films of Zora Neale Hurston,” with film archivist Mike Mashon (2 minutes), “The Films of Spencer Williams,” with Jacqueline Najuma Stewart (7 minutes), “Religion in Early African-American Cinema,” with Jacqueline Najuma Stewart and Charles Musser (7 minutes), and “The End of an Era,” with Jacqueline Najuma Stewart (5 minutes); and an 80-page insert book with notes on the films and essays by Charles Musser and Jacqueline Najuma Stewart, with contributions from Rhea L. Combs, Mary N. Elliott and Paul D. Miller.

Previously our recommendation as the best home video edition of the film, we now favor the Kino Lorber edition noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

Kino Classics
2016 DVD edition

Pioneers of African-American Cinema (1915-1946), black & white, color-tinted black & white, color-toned black & white, and color, 952 minutes total. not rated, including The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920), black & white, 59 minutes, not rated.

Kino Lorber, K20600, UPC 7-38329-20600-0.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc (five DVDs in the set); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; an insert book; one cardboard wrap with three plastic DVD trays in cardboard slipcase, $79.95.
Release date: 26 July 2016.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD edition has been mastered at 2K high-definition from a 35mm preservation print held by The Museum of Modern Art sourced from the only surviving print of the film, with French and Flemish intertitles, held by Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique. New English intertitles have been translated from the European print, with reference to other historical materials.

The film is accompanied by a percussion score composed and performed by the Jazz great, Max Roach.

The collection is supplemented with an insert book that includes notes on the films and essays by collection curators Charles Musser and Jacqueline Najuma Stewart.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.